UPLC-MS/MS-ESI assay for simultaneous determination of magnolol and honokiol in rat plasma: application to pharmacokinetic study after administration emulsion of the isomer.

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: Magnolia officinalis is one of the commonly used in traditional Chinese medicine for the treatment of fever, chronic bronchitis and stomach ailments. Magnolol and honokiol are isomers with hydroxylated biphenol compound in the extract of Magnolia officinalis. This study aims to determine the isomers in rat plasma and evaluate their pharmacokinetic pattern after administration emulsion. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Sprague Dawley male rats received either an intravenous (i.v.25, mg/kg) or oral (50mg/kg) dose of the emulsion of the isomer. A sensitive and specific ultra-performance liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS) method was developed for the investigation of the pharmacokinetics of magnolol and honokiol in rats. Kaempferol was employed as an internal standard. RESULTS: The plasma samples were deproteinized with acetonitrile, the post-treatment samples were analyzed on an Agela C18 column interfaced with a triple quadrupole tandem mass spectrometer in negative electrospray ionization mode. Acetonitrile and 5 mmol/L ammonium acetate buffer solution (65: 35, v/v) was used as the mobile phase at a flow rate of 0.2 mL/min. Following oral administration of emulsion to rats, magnolol attained mean peak plasma concentrations of 426.4 ± 273.8 ng/mL at 1.20 h, whereas honokiol reached peak plasma concentrations of 40.3 ± 30.8 ng/mL at 0.45 h. The absolute bioavailability of magnolol and honokiol is 17.5 ± 9.7% and 5.3 ± 11.7%. By comparison, the AUC0-∞ of magnolol was 5.4 times higher than that of honokiol after intravenous administration, but AUC0-∞ of magnolol was about 18-fold higher than honokiol after oral administration.

The association between the disruption of motor imagery and the number of depressive episodes of major depression.

BACKGROUND: Mental rotation performance may be used as an index of mental slowing or bradyphrenia, and may reflect, in particular, speed of motor preparation. Previous studies suggest depressive patients present the correlates of impaired behavioural performance for mental rotation and psychomotor disturbance. The aim of this study is to compare the mental rotation abilities of patients with a first episode of depression, recurrent depression and healthy control subjects with regard to hand tasks. METHODS: We tested 32 first episode of depression, 38 recurrent depression and 36 healthy control subjects by evaluating the performance of depressed patients with regard to the hand mental rotation tasks. RESULTS: First, the first episode and recurrent depression subjects were significantly slower and made more errors than controls in mentally rotating hands. Second, the first depressive episode but not the recurrent depression displayed the same pattern of response times to stimuli at various orientations relative to control subjects in the hand task. Third, in particular, recurrent depression subjects were significantly slower and made more errors during the mental transformation of hands than first depressive episode relative to control subjects and the differences were significantly larger in female than male subjects in the mental rotation hand task. LIMITATIONS: Patients were on antidepressant medication. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that the impaired behavioural performance for mental representation processing are related to the number of previous episodes. Moreover, the recurrent major depressive episodes may contribute to the reinforcement of cognitive impairments and further the development or maintenance of mental representation dysfunctions, especially in female patients. A deficit on mental rotation in the depressive patients may be potential biomarkers for recurrence chronically.

The effect of chronic antipsychotic drug on hypothalamic expression of neural nitric oxide synthase and dopamine D2 receptor in the male rat.

Antipsychotic-induced sexual dysfunction is a common and serious clinical side effect. It has been demonstrated that both neuronal nitric oxide (nNOS) and dopamine D2 receptor (DRD2) in the medial preoptic area (MPOA) and the paraventricular nucleus (PVN) of the hypothalamus have important roles in the regulation of sexual behaviour. We investigated the influences of 21 days' antipsychotic drug administration on expression of nNOS and DRD2 in the rat hypothalamus. Haloperidol (0.5 mg/kg/day i.p.) significantly decreased nNOS integrated optical density in a sub-nucleus of the MPOA, medial preoptic nucleus (MPN), and decreased the nNOS integrated optical density and cell density in another sub-nucleus of the MPOA, anterodorsal preoptic nucleus (ADP). Risperidone (0.25 mg/kg) inhibited the nNOS integrated optical density in the ADP. nNOS mRNA and protein in the MPOA but not the PVN was also significantly decreased by haloperidol. Haloperidol and risperidone increased DRD2 mRNA and protein expression in both the MPOA and the PVN. Quetiapine (20 mg/kg/day i.p.) did not influence the expression of nNOS and DRD2 in either the MPOA or the PVN. These findings indicate that hypothalamic nNOS and DRD2 are affected to different extents by chronic administration of risperidone and haloperidol, but are unaffected by quetiapine. These central effects might play a role in sexual dysfunction induced by certain antipsychotic drugs.

[Semiconductor low level laser irradiation for exposure of hydroxyapatite orbital implants].

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the efficacy of semiconductor low level laser irradiation for the treatment of postoperative exposure of hydroxyapatite orbital implants. METHODS: 22 cases with postoperative exposure of hydroxyapatite orbital implants were divided into three groups according to the size of implants exposure. The exposure wound in the 3 groups was irradated with semiconductor low level laser 5 min per day for 5-15 days. The follow-up period ranged from 2 to 24 months. RESULTS: In the group with less then 3 mm of exposure, the wound healed in 1 week after 5-10 days irradiation; in the group with implant exposure of 4-7 mm, the would healed in 1-2 weeks after 10-15 days irradiation; in the group with implant exposure of 8-10 mm, the would healed in 2-3 weeks after 10-15 days irradiation. Compared with the treatments of drugs and/or surgical repair, which was used for another 20 cases of exposure of hydroxyapatite orbital implants, semiconductor low level laser increased healing rate obviously in the groups with implant exposure of 4-7 mm and 8-10 mm (P = 0.019, 0.018). CONCLUSION: Semiconductor low level laser has better effects than drugs and/or surgical repair for exposure of hydroxyapatite orbital implants.